New Year's resolutions up in smoke?

5:09 December 26, 2012

The University of Newcastle’s Associate Professor Billie Bonevski recently received funding from the Cancer Institute NSW and Hunter Medical Research Institute to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to help smokers quit.

“Previous research has shown a spike in quit smoking attempts each December and January termed the ‘New Year’ effect,” Associate Professor Bonevski said.

“Rarely is a smoker able to quit the first time they try, so it is important to focus on intervention strategies and research into what will stop people smoking in the first place,” Associate Professor Bonevski said.

Recent research led by Associate Professor Bonevski compared the reactions of smokers to branded packs of cigarettes and plain packaging with graphic images and warnings.

“We found the reactions of smokers who are homeless or those of low socio-economic status echoed the reactions of others in society,” she said.

“People were surprised at the prominence of the pictures but I am not confident many people will actually give up smoking as a result of the plain packaging.

What will be interesting to research is if the plain packaging impacts on smoking uptake rates.”

Associate Professor Bonevski’s other research interests include smoking among mentally ill patients and she is leading a team to implement an Australian first program in drug and alcohol treatment centres across three states, to address patients’ smoking addictions.

The research is supported by two National Health and Medical Research Council grants totalling more than $1.5 million.

* Associate Professor Bonevski is a member of the University’s Priority Research Centre for Health Behaviour and the PRC for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health. She researches in collaboration with HMRI’s Public Health program.

HMRI is a partnership between the University of Newcastle, Hunter New England Local Health District, and the community.

*** Please note the University of Newcastle is closed from 5pm on Wednesday 19 December 2012 until 9am on Thursday 3 January 2013. ***

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